Biggest concern for Sooners one week ahead of start of new season and new era

After 28 seasons as a member of the Big 12 and 77 years prior to that a member of all the previous iterations that eventually evolved into the Big 12, Oklahoma has switched conferences and seven days from now will begin Year 1 as a brand new member of the football powerhouse known as the SEC.

The Sooners went 10-3 in its final season in the Big 12 and easily could have been 11-1 had the ball bounced a little differently in two close conference losses (by a total of eight points) late in the season. The 2024 Oklahoma team returns most of the key pieces from its 2023 roster and, by most accounts, is a better, more complete team than it was a year ago.

The difference is, the Sooners are now competing in a conference where there are as many as eight or nine teams arguably as good or better than they are. In both the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 and the Coaches Poll, for example, there are seven SEC teams ranked ahead of 16th-ranked Oklahoma.

The Sooners definitely have the talent in the skill positions, good depth, and with the improvements Brent Venables and his staff have made in the OU's once much-maligned defensive unit, that group has now become the strength of the team.

Aside from an extremely challenging schedule that could be a blessing or a curse, the one big concern about the SEC Sooners concerns the offensive line, which has been totally rebuilt in the offseason mostly through transfers. Venables and offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh believe they have assembled a solid group with a ton of game experience behind them. But this group has never played together, and establishing the right chemistry along with continuity and communication generally takes some time.

The offensive line group has been putting in the work over the summer and into fall training camp, Venables said when he met with reporters after practice on Tuesday, but they're a little dinged up and the Sooners still haven't established who the starting five will be as well as the rotation on the two-deep depth chart. Venables did say this week that he expected the guys who are a bit banged up will be ready to go to start the season.

The productivity and efficiency of the offense is largely predicated, of course, on the ability of the offensive line to protect first-year starting quarterback Jackson Arnold and open up holes for the Sooners talented and fleet running backs. If the O-line is able to stay healthy and do its job, this can be a dangerous offense with the weapons Arnold has around him.

There should be little question that OU has made a quantum leap in its readiness to not just compete but contend in the SEC since Venables two years ago took over a program about to go into serious decline under Lincoln Riley.

ESPN and SEC Network analyst Paul Finebaum is one prominent voice who says the Sooners are definitely on the way back and could even win nine games this season. But there aren't many college football experts who believe Oklahoma can successfully navigate its way through a brutal conference schedule and come out with more than three or four conference wins.

Joel Klatt is another college football expert who believes Oklahoma is a better than a number of the so-called experts take them for. "That's a proud program, and they've got a lot going for them this year with Brent Venables," the FOX Sports analyst said this week on his show. "They've got a tough schedule, I get it. You split six games (with Tennessee, Texas, Ole Miss, Missouri, Alabama and LSU), you're nine and three an you probably go to the College Football Playoff."

So let the games begin, and let's let the Sooners decide how all of this turns out.